Student Descriptors
Shelley Fairbairn and Stephaney Jones-Vo, Differentiating Instruction and Assessment for English Language Learners, 2010
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Level 5
Listening
Begins to recognize oftenheard words and phrases
that are supported
contextually; requires
frequent restatement or
paraphrasing and begins to
develop awareness of the
sounds of English
Listening
Develops ability to respond
to frequently heard
language with continued
dependence on context,
paraphrasing, and
repetition; begins to build
content and academic
vocabulary
Listening
Understands social and
academic discourse of
differing lengths and levels
of complexity;
comprehends a wide
variety of social and
content/academic
vocabulary related to both
concrete and abstract
concepts, particularly with
visual or contextual support
Speaking
Possibly silent; produces
often-heard words,
memorized phrases, or selfgenerated language to
express meaning or ask
questions; supports
communication with
nonverbal cues; begins to
produce the range of
sounds of English
Speaking
Uses phrases in simple
sentences, likely omitting
key words, to communicate
about common experiences
and situations; begins to
produce content and
academic vocabulary;
errors often inhibited
communication
Listening
Interprets meaning of
sentence-level
communication in social
and general academic
contexts; understands main
ideas of more complex oral
discourse, particularly
when supported visually;
continues to build
repertoire of content and
academic vocabulary and
sentence structures
Speaking
Generates simple sentences
with minimal errors, though
more complex sentences
contain errors that may
inhibit communication; may
appear fluent because of
near mastery of social
language, whereas content
and academic language
continues to develop
related to concrete and
abstract concepts; uses
more precise and specific
content and academic
vocabulary and increasingly
complex grammatical
structures
Listening
Comprehends a broad
spectrum of social and
academic discourse, attends
to language with an
increasing amount of
linguistic complexity,
understands most gradelevel content-academic
vocabulary, approaches the
range of grade-level
performance exhibited by
English-proficient peers
Speaking
Produces a broad spectrum
of extended discourse with
increasing linguistic
complexity and vocabulary
mastery; approaches the
range of grade-level
performance exhibited by
English-proficient peers
Level
1
Speaking
Generates grammatically
varied speech in a wide
variety of social academic
contexts using contentacademic vocabulary
related to concrete and
abstract concepts, errors do
not typically obstruct
meaning
Student Descriptors
Shelley Fairbairn and Stephaney Jones-Vo, Differentiating Instruction and Assessment for English Language Learners, 2010
Level
1
Reading
Gains meaning primarily
from visual support (e.g.
pictures, graphic
organizers, icons); if literate
in the first language, may
start to transfer those skills
to English when provided
with high-quality, visually
supported reading
instruction; preliterate
students may begin to
develop reading skills in
English when provided with
high-quality, visually
supported reading
instruction
Writing
May draw; copy written
text; or write or dictate
individual letters, words, or
phrases (or approximations
thereof to convey meaning)
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Level 5
Reading
May recognize and read
words and phrases
frequently encountered;
gains meaning from simple
and familiar text with visual
support (e.g. pictures,
graphic organizers, icons)
Reading
Derives meaning from
increasingly complex
sentence-and paragraphlevel text, but required
visual and teacher support;
draws upon background
knowledge and previous
experience to make sense of
longer text
Reading
Comprehends increasingly
complex text on known
topics, while unknown topic
continue to require visual
or contextual support
Reading
Comprehends text of
increasing linguistic
complexity and vocabulary
related to a variety of
grade-appropriate subjects
and genres; approaches the
range of grade-level
performance exhibited by
English proficient peers
Writing
Dictates phrases and simple
sentences, writes phrases
and simple sentences with
occasional content and
academic vocabulary when
supported, errors often
obstruct meaning
Writing
Writes increasingly
complex sentences with a
wide range of social
vocabulary and a
developing range of content
and academic vocabulary
related to concrete and
abstract concepts; errors
sometimes obstruct
meaning
Writing
Produces social and
academic text using
increasingly precise
content/academic
vocabulary and increasingly
complex grammar and
mechanics related to
concrete and abstract
concepts; errors do not
typically obstruct meaning
Writing
Writes text varying in
length, complexity,
vocabulary mastery, and
level of academic discourse;
approaches the range of
grade-level performance
exhibited by Englishproficient peers